


Picking a Side

by MonPetitTresor



Series: Changing the Past [7]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bobby is the smart one, Emotional, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, Protective Dean, Protective Gabriel, angry, idk how to tag this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 11:53:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14111772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonPetitTresor/pseuds/MonPetitTresor
Summary: Gabriel takes John and Dean to Bobby's, and a few important conversations are had.





	Picking a Side

Gabriel was more than happy to do as Sam asked and take the two crankier Winchesters away from the bunker. He snapped them all out of there and took them to the place he'd already gone to check out - Bobby Singer's home. This seemed to be the person that Sam was counting on to be rational when it came to their plan. He was the one she'd talked about being able to help talk John or Dean down, and there'd been honest affection in her voice when she spoke of him.

The guy had pretty decent wards up on his place. To keep up with appearances, Gabriel made a point not to land inside the guy's house or anything like that. No regular trickster would be able to manage that. Instead, he landed in the yard in front of the house.

As soon as he landed, the two idiots stumbling beside him as they suddenly found themselves on their feet, Gabriel grinned at them and reached a hand out for each one. “Hold on a sec, boys. This might sting a little.”

Gabriel had seen Sam's new tattoo during her workout, and he'd felt just how strong the warding was on her. It was impressive to be sure. Add in that it was boosted in power thanks to a direct link to her own power - the blood she'd shed during the process was enough to guarantee that - and she was pretty damn protected. Gabriel took his ideas from that and used it to carve warding into the bones of these two idiots.

Neither one of them seemed to appreciate it, judging by the way they cursed at him as they dropped down to the ground. Not that Gabriel really cared. He stuffed his hands down into his pockets and smirked at them. It wasn't a pleasant smirk, either. There were no signs of the friendliness he'd shown to Sam and Meg. These two hadn't done anything yet to deserve that. No, this was the smirk of the trickster; one that promised pain and punishment to the idiots out there stupid enough to keep on pissing him off.

“What the hell?” Dean growled out. He was on his knees, one arm curled around his waist and his other hand in the dirt bracing him up.

Beside him, John was already starting to rise, and the glare he shot Gabriel's way made it clear he'd be more than happy to shove a stake in Gabriel if he had one handy. His mind was practically screaming his intent to reach for a weapon anyways.

As entertaining as it would've been to let John shoot him, Gabriel sighed heavily and rolled his eyes before vanishing all their weapons. “That’s enough of _that_.”

“What’d you do to us?” John demanded. He grabbed hold of Dean’s shoulder, tugging him upwards at the same time that he pushed his way between them, making sure that his body fully blocked Dean from Gabriel.

These humans weren’t near as much fun as hanging out with the other two. Gabriel tried not to roll his eyes again. “I warded you, so no big bad out there can find you.” The way he said it made the ‘duh’ clear. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

“No one asked you to!” Dean snapped from around John’s shoulder. His father’s sharp glare cut him off and had him slumping back.

Smirk growing, Gabriel rocked a little on his heels, knowing it only made him look all the more irritating. “I know. But I figured Sami-girl wouldn’t want anything to happen to you guys, no matter how big of assholes you decided to be. So! Warding all around.”

Any further conversation was cut off when the front door to the house opened, and a man came out, shotgun in hand and a glare on his face. “What the hell is goin’ on out here?” Bobby Singer demanded.

The guy looked like he was one step away from raising his gun and shooting at them. Gabriel was more than a little amused to realize that it looked like John was at just as much risk of being shot as Gabriel was. The only one that seemed exempt was Dean, judging by the worried look that Bobby shot his way.

Whatever the two Winchesters were going to say would likely get them all off on the wrong foot or have Bobby firing that gun of his. That was why Gabriel took it upon himself to walk around the Winchesters and put himself in open shooting range even as he grinned and said “I’m Loki, Norse God of Mischief, and I was asked to bring you a couple assholes. Not the best guest-gift, I know, but I was a bit short on time.” He waved his hand, and a book on demonic lore appeared in his hands. “Will you accept a book instead?”

He had to admit, he was impressed when Bobby didn’t immediately shoot at him. In fact, the hunter _lowered_ his gun. The way he was looking at Gabriel was both suspicious and curious. Kind of like how Sam looked at him sometimes. So, there was at least another hunter out there who didn’t live the whole ‘shoot first ask questions never’ mindset. Then, he surprised and impressed Gabriel even more by nodding his head and holding out his hand. “I accept your guest-gift, Loki.”

Oh, ho! So _someone_ knew his lore! Gabriel passed the book over and felt the binding fall over him as he did. It was a minor one, tied only to his pagan power, but it was something he would respect.

The two behind him didn’t seem as impressed with Bobby’s answer. “What’re you doing, Bobby?” John demanded, storming forward. “You’re gonna let that _thing_ in your house?”

“I aint stupid,” Bobby snapped at him. He looked at John like he clearly thought _he_ was. “Don’t you know your lore? He came up offerin’ me a guest-gift. While he’s in my home, he aint gonna be able to do no harm. That’s part of the whole deal.”

Gabriel grinned at him. “I see why Sami likes you so much. You’re smart, Singer.”

The use of Sam’s name had Bobby’s eyes sharpening once more and fixing on Gabriel. “You know Sam?”

“Who do you think had me bring these chuckleheads here?” Gabriel gestured to the other two with his thumb. “Sorry about just dumping them on you like this. Why don’t we go inside, and I’ll explain everything before Asshole Sr. over here decides to give his version of things.”

“If you think for one minute….!”

John’s rant was cut off with a snap. The voices of both Winchesters were gone; that was going to make this whole thing a hell of a lot easier. With a grin, Gabriel looked up at Bobby and gestured towards his house. “Shall we?”

* * *

The inside of the house was a lot like the outside of it – which wasn’t really saying much, actually. Gabriel raised his eyebrows at the state of things before shaking his head. Not his house. Not his problem. He picked his way past the random stuff and followed Bobby into the living room area that seemed to double as a library. In here was just as messy, just as cluttered, but it was the kind of clutter that Gabriel could really appreciate.

Books were _everywhere._ There were shelves full of them, stacks on the desk, stacks on the floor. Suddenly, it was a whole lot easier for Gabriel to picture a little Sami here. He could just see her curled up in places around the room, a book in her hands and a little furrow in her brow as she concentrated.

He had to actually pause to shake those thoughts off. As much as he was coming to like Sam, he didn’t need to go and start thinking like _that_. That was a dangerous road to go down.

Besides, Gabriel was here with a purpose, and it was one he intended to fulfill. At the very least, to make up for the mistake of even bringing the Winchesters around in the first place. That had failed rather spectacularly. It’d also probably set Gabriel back with Sam quite a bit in the trust and friendliness department.

“All right,” Bobby said, breaking into Gabriel’s thoughts. He was leaning against his desk, arms crossed over his chest, while John stood rigidly beside him and Dean was seated on the arm of the couch. No one was smiling. “We’re here. What’s goin’ on that’s got a Norse god showin’ up on my doorstep with two outta three Winchesters?”

A look around showed that Gabriel’s options were to either stand or go and join Dean on the couch. Neither one was appealing. With a snap of his fingers, he solved that problem. A rather ornate, wingback chair appeared behind him, and Gabriel proceeded to throw himself down into it. Legs kicked up over one armrest, body slouched down, he knew he looked completely comfortable here. Not at all concerned or threatened by them.

Watching John’s left eye twitch was kind of fun. Gabriel snapped himself up a bag of popcorn and Reese’s Pieces just to see if he could get it to happen again.

It did.

Gabriel grinned widely and threw a piece of popcorn into his mouth. He’d debated how to do this on the walk in and had settled on short, sweet, and simple. “Long story short? An older version of your Sam came back in time and merged with her past self, hoping to stop some pretty serious shit from going down. Real serious shit. Lucifer walking free, angels duking it out on earth, Apocalyptic kind of shit.” He didn’t bother mentioning Amara; if they did their job right, that would never be an issue. Besides, Gabriel wasn’t giving them any more than Sam already had.

Every word he said had Bobby’s eyebrows climbing higher and higher. John gave a scornful snort, and Dean looked like he was trying to glare holes through Gabriel.

Throwing another piece of popcorn in his mouth, Gabriel used the bag to gesture towards the Winchesters. “Sami sent some books with them as proof. Cases she an Deano worked the first time she went through this. You’ll be able to match those up an see she’s telling the truth. Or, y’know, you could try believing her instead of yelling at her and treating her like she’s possessed.” Those last words were as sharp as a knife. He glared over at John when he said them, making damn sure the man knew who they were for.

Bobby turned towards the other two humans quickly, eyes already running over them. “You got these books?”

Another snap from Gabriel gave the two men back their voices. Sadly, keeping them silent wasn’t going to make this thing go by any quicker. He had to let them talk, at least a little.

“You’re not believing this?” John asked him incredulously.

Bobby rolled his eyes. “Not without proof. If you guys really got those books, we can look things up an save us all some arguin’.

“Bobby!” This time it was Dean, looking like he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. Even so, he was holding the notebooks in his hands now, clearly unsure what to do with them.

With a heavy sigh, Bobby pushed off his desk and moved to take the books from Dean’s hands. “You know your sister, Dean,” the older man said, grabbing hold of the notebooks. “She’s reckless sometimes, but she aint stupid. She’s not gonna set up an elaborate prank like this, an there’s no reason I can think of that an actual Norse god would want to feed us some story like this, especially when it aint gonna take much to prove it right or wrong.”

The sound of Gabriel’s groan echoed loudly through the room. Gabriel threw his head back and said a fervent “ _Thank you_!” to the ceiling. Then he looked back up and pointed a finger at Bobby. “You’ve just become my third favorite human right now. I should’ve brought you to her instead of _them_.”

“I aint decided yet how much I believe or trust you,” Bobby warned him flatly. He brought the notebooks around to the other side of his desk and pulled out his chair before sitting down. There was an old, almost ancient looking computer there that he started to boot up. No one noticed a thing as Gabriel used just a tiny bit of power to improve the thing’s inner mechanics and speed it up a bit.

This was going to take a bit, Gabriel knew. Even with the computer being a bit faster, this was still going to take a bit. That was fine, though. He could wait.

Sinking a little further down into his chair, he tossed another piece of popcorn in his mouth and set himself to watch as the three men gathered around the desk and tried to put together bits of the life Sam had led, pieces of a timeline that no longer was, and match it up with their own. They were looking through the book that showed what Sam had said was her first year of hunting with Dean. While they focused on that, Gabriel discreetly called the other notebook to him – the one on the Apocalypse.

While the hunters worked, Gabriel opened the notebook up, spread it on his lap, and began to read.

* * *

Reading through Sam’s view of the apocalypse wasn’t easy. Seeing what had happened, how far some of his family had fallen – _Castiel, tiny little Cassie, what on earth had his family done to that small, curious little fledgling?? –_ was hard for Gabriel to read. Laid out in words like this, it was easy for Gabriel to see the path they’d led Sam down. The way she’d been manipulated.

There was something in here that seemed like it was missing, though, and if it was what Gabriel thought it was, he didn’t blame her for leaving that out. For Lucifer to have gotten free, it had to mean that Sam had killed Lilith, and there was only one way she could’ve done that. Gabriel was betting on this Ruby demon that was showing up randomly.

It surprised Gabriel that it was almost as hard to read what was happening to Sam as it was to see what his family was doing. More so, in some ways, because Gabriel knew what waited for her at the end of this. He knew how this ended for her. That was something that he was going to do everything in his power to stop from happening again. He didn’t question _why_ ; all that mattered was that it was not going to happen. She’d been through it once already, and that was more than enough.

As Gabriel worked his way through all her information on the apocalypse – and she was good at giving information without giving anything personal – the others worked their way through the hunting notebook, matching it all up with online information. They argued more than once. More, as it became clear that Sam wasn’t lying to them.

Gabriel was snapped out of his thoughts by John’s furious “I can’t believe you’re falling for this!”

“You believe what you want,” Bobby almost growled the words at him, clearly fed up. “I got eyes, an I can see what’s matching up. Even you said she was the one that told you this, not him. He’s just delivering the message. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather take the risk this is true an try an stop it, than stick my head in the damn sand an hope I’m right!”

That muscle by John’s eye was really twitching now. Gabriel wanted to give a low whistle to show just how impressed he was.

Instead of throwing a punch, the way he looked like he was going to, John spun and marched out of the room. A second later the front door slammed against the wall.

Dean sighed and straightened up from the desk. He still looked annoyed, only there was something of resignation and sadness in his eyes. He was starting to believe this, too. “I’ll go talk to him.”

“You boys be careful out there,” Gabriel threw out. “I warded you, but better safe than sorry. All our plans are screwed before they begin if one of you two gets killed out there.”

It wasn’t any real surprise that Dean’s only response was a scathing look. He vanished out of the house after his father, leaving Bobby and Gabriel alone together.

Gabriel turned his attention back to Bobby and found the older hunter watching him. Bobby’s gaze was straightforward, not even bothering to hide his seriousness or the threat there. The two held gazes for one long, silent moment. It was Bobby who finally broke it. “If you’re playin’ some sort of game, or screwing around with my girl, I’ll find a way to kill you.”

The threat was delivered in a steady, even voice that only made it all the more impactful.

There was respect in Gabriel’s gaze when he nodded. No sign of the trickster showed on his face on in his voice. “Understood.”

With a firm nod, Bobby turned back to his research, seemingly determined to work his way through the whole book.

That was fine. It left Gabriel free to turn his focus elsewhere. Not back to the book in his lap, no. He closed his eyes and reached his senses out towards the Winchesters outside. Eavesdropping was a skill Gabriel had perfected long before he’d left home. It came in handy quite a few times up in Heaven and Earth had only helped him improve that skill. He had no hesitation whatsoever in putting that skill to use now.

It only took a minute for Gabriel to latch on to their voices and listen in. They must’ve got the main part of their argument out of the way already, thank you Dad. John wasn’t shouting. However, what he was saying was very, very interesting.

 _“Bobby’s too caught up in whatever game this thing is playing,_ ” John said, low and a bit urgent. _“Whatever’s going on, we can’t trust this thing, and right now it’s looking like we can’t trust Bobby, either.”_

_“What’re we gonna do, Dad? That stuff in there…”_

_“I know, I know. I don’t know what to think of it, either. We need more information.”_ There was a pause and then a heavy sigh. _“I’m not going to be able to go back to your sister. She and I butt heads enough already. She’s not going to listen to me on this. But she might listen to you. I need you to go in there and keep an eye on her for me while I try and see what I can find out about this trickster. He’s using her somehow, I know it.”_

_“And if she’s telling the truth?”_

_“You really think your sister’s traveled from the future, Dean?”_ John’s tone was heavy with disappointment. It wasn’t hard to picture how he’d glare at Dean, or how Dean would shuffle under that look. After a soft ‘ _no sir’_ from Dean, John kept going. “ _Something’s going on here, Dean, and you… I’ve had my worries for a little while now, but I haven’t been sure.”_

 _“What do you mean?”_ Dean asked.

John was quiet for long enough that Gabriel began to wonder if the man had walked away, or what was going on. He was just about to try and put a little more energy into his spying when John finally spoke again.

_“I need you to keep an eye on your sister for me, Dean. With this going on… there’s a chance that there’s, there’s something wrong with our Sami. A chance she might not even be our Sami anymore. If that’s the case… you’re gonna have to do everything you can to try and save her. If it doesn’t work, you’ll have to kill her. She won’t be our Sami anymore, and we can’t let whatever this is, take her over.”_

Anger filled Gabriel. He lost control of his eavesdropping as he fought not to snap himself outside and go straight for the asshole who’d just stood there and _told one kid they might have to kill the other_.

Who the hell did that? Who the hell was a big enough _asshole_ that they’d actually tell their son to kill their other child?

Oh, wait.

Gabriel grimaced and opened up his eyes. Their families were showing far too many parallels. This whole damn apocalypse was set to happen because a father told one son he’d need to kill the other. It was kind of scary that John was doing the exact same thing.

Yeah, well, it wasn’t going to happen. Any of it. Gabriel was going to make damn sure of that. There was no way he was going to let Dean lay a hand on Sam, and if they managed to get a decent plan together, they’d keep Michael and Lucifer from laying hands on each other, too. Gabriel was done watching siblings fight one another. He’d left home to avoid it, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to watch it start happening here. Not when he could do something about it.

He was still seething over it when Dean came back to the house.

The knowledge of what had happened out there, what the two men had talked about, sharpened Gabriel’s voice just a little. Made him more trickster than archangel at that moment. “You an Daddy have a good talk?”

Bobby looked up, taking note of the fact that John was nowhere in sight, but Dean only had eyes for Gabriel at the moment. “Dad’s not coming back in. He doesn’t like you, an he doesn’t want anywhere near you. He thinks you’re full of shit an that you’re only gonna hurt Sami.”

“And what do _you_ think, bucko?” Gabriel asked, arching one eyebrow. Would the kid lie to him? Would he pretend like that conversation outside hadn’t happened?

“I think I want to be with my sister,” Dean said. It wasn’t a direct answer. Gabriel had to admit it was a pretty good evasion. Dean wasn’t denying or admitting to anything. He was just making a statement. “I don’t like you,” he went on. “An I sure as hell don’t trust you. But I’m not gonna just leave Sami to deal with this crap on her own. So, take me back.”

The blatant demand at the end was more than enough to have Gabriel narrowing his eyes at the kid. “I’m not your personal chauffeur, _boy_.”

“You’re going back anyways, just take me back with you.”

It was tempting to just up and leave. Gabriel had already added his own extra wards around the property, and he’d warded both Winchesters. Plus, the wards they wore could easily work as trackers, ones that only Gabriel could access. If anything happened to them, the marks he’d put on their ribs would let him know, and he’d be able to easily find them and help. He didn’t trust either idiot to stay out of trouble.

Taking Dean back with him, though… Gabriel still believed that, at least, was the right thing to do. The two siblings needed to be together. Brother and sister needed one another. He could tell that just by listening to Sam talk about him. But he could also tell just how much it hurt her to even have to look at him. This wasn’t a choice that Gabriel could make on his own again. Not if he wanted her to start trusting him at all.

Tilting his head, Gabriel studied Dean’s face, reading the play of emotions that showed there. The kid tried to mask them; his mask just wasn’t that good. “I’ll ask her,” he finally settled on saying. “She’s the one that wanted you two out. It’s her choice when you get to come back. So, I’ll ask her, an I’ll pop back here in the morning and let you know.” He saw Dean was about to protest and he arched an eyebrow at him. “Best you’re gonna get, Deano. She’s the one calling the shots here. The rest of us are just along for the ride.”

A mulish look crossed Dean’s face. “Fine.” It was clear he didn’t like it. Just as it was clear, he knew he had to accept it.

All at once Gabriel’s expression wiped away for a big smile. “Great!” He pushed up to his feet, vanishing his popcorn bag, and sending a copy of the apocalypse book to Bobby’s desk. The real one, he tucked away into a little pocket dimension, keeping it hidden for now. “Well, I’m off then! Don’t you chuckleheads get dead while I’m gone, you hear me? It’d upset Sam, an I’d rather not see her sad.”

“Great.” Dean shook his head and snorted. “Nice to see where we stand.

Gabriel tipped him a wink. “Damn straight, kiddo. Now, before I go back…” The light in Gabriel’s eyes went dark and dangerous. Leaning in, he let his eyes darken with pagan power and a smirk curve over his lips that promised a wealth of pain. It was satisfying to see Dean take a small step back. “Just in case she actually agrees to let you come out there, let me just warn you: you try what your daddy suggested? It won’t be Samantha you’ll have to worry about. It’s gonna be _me_. An trust me when I say I’ve got plenty of creative ways to punish people.”

Gabriel enjoyed the flash of fear in Dean’s eyes before spreading his wings and disappearing.


End file.
